Frank Bruni Ingests Four Loko So You Don't Have To

While Four Loko has been on the market for only about two years, the dangers it poses are hardly new or isolated. Almost from the moment the caffeine-heavy energy drink Red Bull was introduced in the late 1980s, it was mixed with alcohol by revelers intent on bleariness without weariness. The vodka Red Bull even has its own moniker (a vod-bomb) and Wikipedia entry, and the Web is rife with recipes for Red Bull with rum or tequila or schnapps.

Their names suggest the kind of potent payoff their fans are after. There's the "crack pipe," "the shark bite," "the Hulk."